<p>With a little under 2 months to decide, I need some advice for picking schools!
It's between Pitt, Tulane, and University of Michigan. I've been accepted to the Honors colleges at Pitt and Tulane and haven't heard from Michigan yet. Also, I've been accepted to preferred admission for Pharmacy at Michigan and Pitt. The pharmacy program at UMich and Pitt is 6 years (2 undergrad, 4 graduate program) while if I went to Tulane and then pharmacy school, it would be 8 years.The only thing is, I'm not completely sure I want to do pharmacy, I'd love to do something in chemistry, chemical engineering, neuroscience, etc. I'm almost worried I'd go to Pitt/UMich for pharmacy, change my mind and regret not going to Tulane.
I visited all of the campuses, UMich is like any big college campus, Pitt is urban and not the prettiest campus I've been to, and Tulane is definitely my favorite so far, palm trees make any campus look nice. It's on the smaller side for me (8,000 undergrad) but I like how they really give you personal attention and it seems like people who go to Tulane love it. The only thing I don't like is that sports/tailgating isn't big there, which I would obviously get at Pitt or Michigan. I'm from Ohio so Tulane would be far away, but everyone comes from far away which is nice, and adjusting anywhere will be weird since it's new, no matter how far away I go.
As for money, Pitt is going to be about 26,000 a year, UMich 33,000 a year and Tulane is the cheapest at 19,000 (this isn't counting loans, just scholarship). With loans/workstudy Tulane is 10,000, UMich is 28,000 and I haven't heard from Pitt yet. Even with plane tickets/travel, Tulane would be the cheapest.
I'm stressing out about all of this, so if anyone could give me advice that would be great! Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, just from the tone of your post, you seem to want Tulane. As far as sports/tailgating, that might improve considerably starting in 2014, when the new on campus football stadium opens. And I think the football team is getting a lot better. These things are always hard to predict of course, but this recruiting class seemed really good.</p>
<p>Since you are unsure of your career direction, it does seem logical to keep your options open. And with Tulane being the least expensive, most likely, you can save some money towards pharm school if that is what you do end up choosing.</p>
<p>BTW, you would be amazed how often students are choosing between these schools. Lots of overlap in admissions to these three, along with Miami, BU and a couple of others.</p>
<p>I know Pitt very well, I lived in Pgh for 10-11 years and now have a son there in law school. It is a good school, but I couldn’t agree with you more about the campus. It just isn’t very attractive. On the positive side, it is really close to the museums and there are a lot of things surrounding the campus, not to mention being close to downtown and to the South Side, which has nice shops and restaurants. But Tulane has that too, just not as urbanized. Magazine Street is like South Carson, and Oak and Maple Streets are somewhat like the area surrounding Pitt, while downtown New Orleans is only a streetcar ride away. Pittsburgh has all 4 major league sports, if that means anything to you. Weather sucks in Pittsburgh, though.</p>
<p>The differences with Michigan are pretty obvious. And with that price difference, it seems Tulane is the far better deal.</p>
<p>No one can really give you great advice on this, because we don’t know you. Only you can follow your gut as to which place you think you will be happiest. Just know you have three excellent schools (although I am a little confused as to whether you have actually been accepted to Michigan yet. Did you mean you are just waiting on their honors program?), so you really can’t go wrong academically. But being happy isn’t just academics, it is those other factors like weather, sports, size of school, and whatever else is important to your feeling like you are in a place where you can thrive both academically and otherwise. If you can answer the “otherwise” question, then you probably have your answer.</p>
<p>Thank you! And yes, I have been admitted to Michigan, I’m just waiting on the Honors program acceptance, it’s a separate application. And now that you say that, the tone of my voice is showing bias towards Tulane haha, I’m indecisive though so I guess I just need some advice to make sure I don’t pick the wrong school. The task of picking a place where I spend the next for years seems daunting to me, but I guess I can’t go wrong with any of the schools. Thanks again for the advice, it means a lot!</p>
<p>My son has also been accepted to Pitt and Tulane, and he definitely prefers Tulane (smaller school, New Orleans, cheaper for him). One other consideration in Pitt’s favor is that you can take classes at Carnegie Mellon, which could be nice given your science leanings.
You are correct that you have great choices - enjoy that, and I am sure that your choice will work out well for you.</p>
<p>CMU isn’t going to be any advantage at Pitt with leanings toward Pharm, Neuroscience and Chemistry. Pitt is better in all of those fields (and offers more classes in those fields) than CMU. CMU students are the ones trying to take course in those fields at Pitt.</p>
<p>Pitt’s strength is in the health sciences which complements CMU’s strength in computer sciences. If you are interested in the nexus of those two fields, it is a great place to be because the two schools are extremely collaborative at all levels.</p>
<p>But there is no wrong choice between UM, Tulane and Pitt, so don’t fret a bad decision.</p>
<p>Studies show that the average college student changes a major three times. Also that 40% of students that start out in STEM subjects completely bail out of the math/science death march. So I’d advise you to give your intended major the appropriate weighting in your decision. My experience with my two college students is that many kids (at least in STEM) put too much emphasis on their major in making the decision.</p>
<p>Ideal would be a school where you could test-drive your first major choice, but which would otherwise work (socially, financially, academically) if that major blows up first semester. One thing that steered one of my kids to TU was the ability to try a STEM major, but being able to have a successful college experience (including still graduating in 4 years at do-able cost) if that major blew up (which it did).</p>
<p>Pitt’s Pharmacy program might be more flexible than you think. As a freshman applicant you probably got conditional acceptance, which gives you 2 years to complete the prerequisites for entry into the upper level school, while considering other areas. Visit or attend an accepted Students Day and make sure you ask these types of questions at each school.</p>